Centennial board OKs new teachers contract more than year early

Chris English @courierc

Wednesday

May 15, 2019 at 2:00 PM

The new, five-year contract replaces the first year of the current deal which wasn't set to expire until June 30, 2020.

In a departure from the norm, the Centennial School District has agreed to a new, five-year contract with its teachers and other professionals in their union more than a year before the current deal was set to expire on June 30, 2020.

The new agreement, approved unanimously by the school board Tuesday night after it had already been ratified by the 445-member Centennial Education Association, replaces the final year of the current contract and extends through June 30, 2024.

Because it reduces a scheduled salary increase from 0.8 percent to 0.4 percent and decreases health care costs, the new contract will save $600,000 in 2019-20 and will likely allow the district to raise property taxes only 2.3 percent next school year, instead of 4 percent as was previously anticipated, Chief Financial Officer Christopher Berdnik said. The board approved a proposed final 2019-20 budget Tuesday night with the 2.3 percent increase.

The new teachers contract will increase district costs a total of $3.8 million over its life, Berdnik added. It contains what are termed in a district new release as "modest" salary increases of 0.4 percent the first year and 0.75 percent the final four years.

It hikes union member salaries and benefits about 1.89 percent a year when including both step and column salary hikes, Berdnik said. Step increases are vertical movement on a salary matrix based on years of service, and column increases are horizontal movement based on college degrees and credits earned.

"It provides relief to taxpayers while maintaining important programs, and simultaneously addressing the board's concerns regarding significant budget shortfalls from unfunded mandates at the state and national level," according to the news release.

It has a special education longevity incentive stating that beginning in 2019-20, teachers who have served continuously for three years and continue to serve as a special education classroom teacher (and are rated satisfactory) will be eligible for an annual employer-paid 403b contribution of $500. That amount will grow by $50 in each of the remaining years of the new contract.

"We have labor peace and harmony for five years which is good for our teachers and our community," school board President Andrew Pollock said.

Board member Mark B. Miller thanked union members for the "professionalism with which they came to the table."

Teachers union President Joe O'Connor said one reason for the early contract was a desire to get a deal done before the departure of Berdnik, who is leaving Centennial next month to become the top business administrator in the Pennsbury School District.

"We have a long history of working well with the board and administration," O'Connor said. "This puts us in a position where neither side will have to worry about this for awhile."

Starting and maximum union salaries, now $48,974 and $115,029, will be $49,170 and $115,489 in the first year of the new contract, $49,539 and $116,355 in the second, $49,911 and $117,228 in the third, $50,285 and $118,107 in the fourth, and $50,662 and $118,993 in the final year. The current average union member salary is $98,769.

Union member contributions to their heath insurance premiums, which now range from 12 percent to 20 percent depending on which of five plans are chosen, will increase to 17percent to 20 percent, 18 percent to 20 percent, and 19 percent to 20 percent in the first three years of the new contract. The contribution rate for all five plans will be 20 percent the final two years of the deal.

Settling on a new contract more than a year early is rare for public school teachers. Most new contracts are agreed to either weeks before current deals expire, or afterward.

Bensalem teachers and others in their union worked for more than 20 months under the terms of a contract that had expired on June 30, 2017, before the school board and teachers finally agreed on a new contract last month.

Neshaminy teachers once worked for about five years under terms of an expired contract before finally reaching agreement on a new deal in June 2013.

Details of the new Centennial contract can be viewed on the board docs section of the school district website, centennialsd.org, by clicking on the agenda for the May 14 meeting.

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